VNC and remote desktop (Ubuntu)

I was helping RoJ to setup his new Ubuntu machine (which he likes a lot) and decided that rather than just logging in via SSH, I'd try the old remote desktop.

So, I got him to enable remote desktop login (System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop) and got him to check the "View your desktop" box. Then I made sure that he had port 5900 forwarding to his machine.


All I needed to do from my end was use the VNC viewer to get a beautiful live stream of his laptop 400 miles away:

vncviewer xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:5900